Toy electric hand drill



April 1, 1958 R. L. STEINER ET AL 2,829,285

TOY ELECTRIC HAND DRILL Filed Oct. 25, 1957 f) T TOAfK/E ys.

TQY ELECTRHI HAND DRILL Robert L. Steiner, Cincinnati, tibia, and ClaraC. Beiler, Fhiiadelphia, Pa assignors to The Kenner Products Company,Cincinnati, Qhio, a corporation of Delaware Application October 23,1957, Serial No. 691359 4 Claims. (Cl. 310-50) This invention relates tochildrens toys and is more particularly directed to a battery operatedtoy hand drill which can be used by a child to simulate variousoperations which can be performed with a real hand drill.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a toy handdrill which is very realistic in appearance and operation and yet iscompletely safe for use by young children.

A preferred form of toy constructed in accordance with the inventioncomprises a plastic housing having a barrel portion enclosing a highspeed, low torque motor and batteries for operating the motor. A pistolgrip type handle is formed integral with the rear wall of the barrel andcarries a trigger for controlling operation of the motor. The motor ismounted on the forward end of the housing barrel and includes anelongated shaft which projects forwardly of the housing and carries achuck member. The chuck member includes a socket adapted to receive theshank end of a plurality of interchangeable accessories or tools, suchas a screw driver, grinding wheel, mixer paddle, butting wheel, and thelike.

By means of the present drill, a child is able to closely simulate theoperations of drilling, bufling, mixing, grinding and the like which anadult can perform with a real hand drill. The battery driven motor iseffective to rotate the tool at a realistically high speed and yet thetool is perfectly safe since the motor torque is so low it stalls evenwhen a tool is pressed against the skin.

Another advantage of the present construction is that the mounting ofthe various components facilitates the provision of a drill havingrealistic proportions and at the same time including a minimum number ofparts. A preferred embodiment of the present drill comprises only ahousing, three spring brass strips for providing the necessaryelectrical connections, a motor, a chuck, a trigger and the twobatteries. These component parts are economically produced and arereadily assembled so that a working toy drill can be produced at amoderate cost.

In a preferred form of embodiment, the two dry cells are arranged oneabove another on the barrel portion of the housing directly behind thesmall electric motor which is clamped in the forward portion of thehousing between a cup portion and a transverse wall. The batteries arereversed end for end and are in series electrical connection. Two of thebrass strips are mounted in the housing adjacent to the forward ends ofthe batteries and provide electrical connections between the positiveand negative battery electrodes and the motor.

The third spring strip is mounted in the rear portion of the housing andincludes a first bowed portion in engagement with one battery terminal.The spring further includes a second bowed portion which is normallyspaced slightly from the second battery terminal and is in engagementwith the trigger to normally bias that member outwardly. This secondbowed portion of the spring functions as a switch since in its normalposition, spaced 2,829,285 Patented Apr. 1, 1958 from the batteryterminal, the motor circuit is open and the drill is inoperative.However, when the trigger is depressed, this spring section is shiftedinto contact with the battery terminal, interconnecting the twobatteries and completing the circuit to energize the motor.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be morereadily apparent from a further consideration of the following detaileddescription of the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a drill constructed in accordancewith the present invention.

Figure 2 is an end view of the drill shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view taken along line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a cross sectional view taken along line 4-4- of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view taken along line 5--5 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 66 ofFigure 1.

As best shown in Figures 1 and 3, a drill 10 constructed in accordancewith the present invention comprises a housing 11 which is formed of arigid molded plastic. Housing 11 includes a hollow barrel portion 12 anda hollow piston grip type of handle 13 formed integral with the rearportion of the barrel. The forward portion of the barrel is joined to acup-like section or casing 14 which simulates a gear reduction unit on acommercial drill.

A high speed, low torque direct current motor 15 is mounted in theforward end of the barrel 12 and cup portion 14. This motor is poweredby means of two conventional dry cells 16 and 17, the dry cells beingmounted above one another within barrel portion 12. Handle portion 13has a slit in its front wall for receiving a trigger 18 which is movablymounted adjacent to the upper portion of the handle and projectsoutwardly therefrom. Motor 15 is provided with an elongated shaft 19which projects outwardly from the forward end of the drill and carries achuck Zil which is press fitted over the end of the shaft and is adaptedto support any of a plurality of interchangeable tools.

More particularly, in a preferred embodiment, housing 11 is formed intwo mating sections 26 and 27. The sections being joined together bymeans of any suitable adhesive. To enhance the realistic appearance ofthe drill, these sections have a metallic gray appearance and havesuitable indentations corresponding to the motor ventilating openings ofa conventional drill. Barrel portion 12 of the housing 11 encloses drycells 16 and 17 and motor 15. As best shown in Figure 3, the dry cellsare mounted above one another and are reversed end for end. Cross arms28 formed integral with the h using extend transversely across theforward ends of the batteries; while cross arms 3% also formed integralwith the housing extend across the rear ends of the batteries. Access tothe batteries is provided by means of hatch 31. This hatch, or cover, isof arcuate cross section and is held in place over an opening in thehousing by means of lugs 32 which snap within the recesses 33 formed inflanges 34 as best shown in Figure 6. The inner surface of hatch 31 isprovided with two spaced ribs 35, the ribs functioning to rigidify thehatch and restrain upper battery 16.

Motor 15 is a small high speed, low torque, direct cur-' rent motorhaving a housing 3 6 of generally circular cross section with adepending extension 37 for supporting a permanent magnet. This motor ismounted in the forward end of barrel portion 12 and cup section 14 ofthe h0using. The forward end of the motor housing abuts wall a sessesresilient brass strip raving clan pod between the bottom wall of theboost lug 53. Strips 45 and 5b are spring u ed way fro motor toward drycells spring ing the negative terminal of the lower cell 17, strip anengaging the positive terminal of the upper cell.

A third resilient stri; is mounted in the rear portion of the housingand is clamped between lug 5d and arms 33 of the housing. Con ve stripincludes two bowed endwise portions and 53. U1 per portion 57 pressesagainst the r" tive term "1 of the upper cell, while the lo r portion 53is normally spaced from the positive terminal of the lower cell as shownin Figure 3. The lowermost end of portion engages an upwardly extendingfinger formed on trigger i3. Spring portion 58 is thus effective to urgethe trigger outwardly (clockwise in Figure 3). However, 1 is adapted topivot about lugs 63. which r .bly formed integral with the trigger andare j urnalled in bosses 62 formed integral with handle With the triggerin its outer position, shown in Figure 3, the circuit to motor lid isbroken due to the gap between terminal 53 of the lower battery andsegment 5% of conductive strip 55%. However, when the trigger isdepressed, finger dd forces the brass strip against terminal 63 tocomplete the circuit between dry cells 16 and energize motor 35.

Shaft 19 of motor carries chuck Chuck 2%) is preferably formed of amolded plastic similar to housing ii. The rear portion of the chuck isprovided with a cylindrical opening adapted to be press fitted over theend of shaft 19. The tapered forward end of chuck 2b is provided with asocket Socket or recess 54 is adapted to receive and frictionallysupport a tool shank. The socket is also configurated to positivelyrotate the shank. In the preferred embodiment, socket comprises twoslits disposed at right angles to one 2 that, these slits extending to asubsta "ally depth. within the chuck.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. A toy electric hand drill comprising a moulded plastic body, saidbody consisting of two mating sections, means adhesively a hing 5 idsections, each of said body sections being hcncw and being confi uratedto form a barrel portion and a piston type ha die portion formedintegral with l barrel portion, each or said body portions including aninwardly extending flange terminating in a circular recess, ele ll motormounted within said body remote from said handle, said motor including ahousing having a circular portion clamped between said inwardlyprojecting flanges whereby said flanges are effective to support saidmotor within said body, said motor having an elon" ted shaft extendingforwardly of said body, a tool rec ing chuck mounted upon said shaft,two dry cells mounted above one another within said body adjacent tosaid handle, a trigger movably mounted adjacent to said hand e, anelectrical switch in mechanical connection with say trigger and inelectrical connection with said motor and said battery, and said motorbeing of the high speed, low torque type characterized by a torque ofsuch low magnitude that a child can stop the motor without harm to hishand by grasping the chuck while the motor is running.

2. A toy made of molded plastic and comprising a hollow barrel portion,a hollow casing portion integral with and projecting from the forwardend of said barrel portion, a hollow pistol grip type handle joined tothe rear of said barrel portion, said portions simulating respectivelythe electric motor enclosing barrel, the gear reducing transmissioncasing, and the pistol grip handle of an electric hand drill, a tri rmovably mounted within said i llow handle portion and projectingforwardly therefrom, means for mounting a pair of dry cell electricbatteries positioned one immediately above the other within andlongitudinally of the barrel portion, an electric motor, means mountingsaid motor within said casing portion forwardly of the position of theuppermost one of said dry cell electric batteries, an elor ted driveshaft extending from the forward end of said motor and projecting beyondthe front of said casing portion, a. tool receiving chuck simulating thechuck of an electric hand drill, said tool receiving chuck engaged uponthe forward end of said drive shaft, means including an electric switchoperable by said trigger interconnecting said dry cell electricbatteries and said motor, and said motor being of the high speed, lowtorque type characterized by a torque of such low magnitude that a childcan stop the motor wit. out harm to his hand by grasping the chuck whilethe motor is running.

3. A toy made of molded plastic and comprising a hollow barrel portion,a hollow casing portion integral with and projecting from. the forwardend of said barrel portion, a hollow pistol grip type handle made as anintegral part of said barrel portion and projecting downwardly from therear end thereof, said portions simulating respectively the electricmotor enclosing barrel, the gear reducing transmission, and the pistolgrip handle of an electric hand drill, a trigger movably mounted withinsaid hollow handle portion and projecting forwardly therefromimmediately beneath said hollow barrel portion, at least one dry cellelectric battery, means mounting said dry cell electric battery in theupper part of said hollow barrel portion with the longitudinal axis ofthe battery parallel to the longitudinal axis of said barrel portion, anelectric motor, means mounting said electric motor within said casingportion in alignment with and in front of said battery, a drive shaftextending from the forward end of said motor and projecting beyond thefront of said casing portion, a tool receiving chuck mounted upon theforward end of said drive shaft, means including an electric switchoperable by said trigger interconnecting said dry cell electric batteryand said electric motor, and said electric motor being of the highspeed, low torque type characterized by a torque of such low magnitudethat a child can stop the motor without harm to his hand by grasping thechuck while the motor is running.

4. A toy electric drill of hollow molded plastic construction comprisinga barrel portion, a casing portion integral with and projecting from theforward end of said barrel portion, a piston grip ty e handle joined tothe rear of said barrel portion, a trigger movably mounted within saidhandle portion and projecting forwardly therel'ron, means for mountin apair of dry cell batteries ned one immediatel above the other within andng longitudina ly of said barrel portion, an electric or, means mountingsaid motor wholly within said casing portion forwardly of the positionof the uppermost one of said batteries, a drive shaft extendingforwardly from said motor and projecting beyond the front of said casingportion, a tool receiving chuck on said drive shaft immediately forwardof said casing portion, means includan electric switch operable by saidtrigger and electrically int nnecting sa d batteries and said motor, andsaid motor being of the high speed, low torque type characterized by atorque of such low magnitude that a child can stop the motor withoutharm to his hand by grasping the chuck while the motor is running.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS Lukowski May 4, 1937 6 Whitney et a1 Sept.13, 1938 Avery Jan. 2, 1951 OQuinn Mar. 4, 1952 Wood Feb. 10, 1953 GreenApr. 14, 1953 Orren et a1. Feb. 16. 1954

